No damage reported Tuesday in Bay County

Published: Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 01:51 PM.

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The most lethal were the storms of Dec. 24-26, 1982, when 29 tornadoes in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi killed three people and injured 32.

Below are earlier reports:

9 p.m. update: A Christmas Day twister outbreak left damage across the Deep South, prompting tornado warnings and watches in the Florida Panhandle and leaving holiday travelers in the nation’s much colder midsection battling sometimes treacherous driving conditions from freezing rain and blizzard conditions.

Conditions were volatile throughout the afternoon and into the night, with tornado warnings in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. The storms were blamed for two deaths, several injuries and left homes from Louisiana to Alabama damaged.

A tornado warning was issued for Bay County just after 9:10 p.m. after radar indicated a developing tornado 13 miles south of Panama City Beach, moving northeast at 45 mph. The storm was moving toward western Panama City, Lynn Haven and Southport. The warning is in effect until 10 p.m.

In Mobile, Ala., a tornado or high winds damaged homes and knocked down power lines and large tree limbs in an area just west of downtown around nightfall, said Nancy Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Mobile County Commission. WALA-TV’s tower camera captured a large funnel cloud headed toward downtown.

9:50 p.m. update: Twisters hopscotched across the Deep South on Tuesday, prompting tornado warnings and watches in several states and leaving holiday travelers in the nation’s much colder midsection battling sometimes treacherous driving conditions from freezing rain and blizzard conditions.

The storms were blamed for three deaths, several injuries and left homes from Louisiana to Alabama damaged.

In Mobile, Ala., a possible tornado damaged homes, a high school and church, and knocked down power lines and large tree limbs in an area just west of downtown around nightfall. WALA-TV’s tower camera captured the image of a large funnel cloud headed toward downtown.

Rick Cauley, his wife, Ashley, and two children were hosting members of both of their families. When the sirens went off, the family headed down block to take shelter at the athletic field house at Mobile’s Murphy High School.

“As luck would have it, that’s where the tornado hit,” Cauley said. “The pressure dropped and the ears started popping and it got crazy for a second.” They were all fine, though the school was damaged. Hours after the storm hit, officials reported no serious injuries in the southwestern Alabama city.

The storm system also spawned a waterspout that came ashore west of Blue Mountain Beach in South Walton on Tuesday afternoon, but no damage was reported, according to National Weather Service reports.

A tornado warning was issued for Bay County just after 7 p.m., when radar indicated a possible tornado that moved from the east end of the beach toward Southport and into northern Bay County. The Bay County Sheriff’s Office said they had received no reports of funnel clouds or touchdowns as of 9 p.m. Another tornado warning was issued for Bay County just before 9:15 p.m., but the storm weakened before it moved ashore.

A tornado watch remained in effect for most Panhandle counties for much of Christmas Day into early Wednesday, with the heaviest storms expected to move through after midnight. The tornado watch was set to expire at 4 a.m. CST Wednesday.

No major delays were reported at Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport on Tuesday, but that was not the case elsewhere. More than 500 flights nationwide were canceled by the evening, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com. More than half were canceled into and out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport that got a few inches of snow.

Mobile damage

In Mobile, a large section of the roof on the Trinity Episcopal Church was missing and the front wall of the parish wall is gone, said Scott Rye, a senior warden at the church in the Midtown section of the city.

On Christmas Eve, the church with about 500 members, was crowded for services. “Thank God this didn’t happen last night,” Rye said.

The church finished a $1 million-plus renovation campaign in June 2011, which required the closure of the historic sanctuary for more than a year.

An apparent tornado caused damage in Grove Hill, about 80 miles north of Mobile. Mary Cartright said she was working at the Fast Track convenience store in the town on Christmas evening when the wind started howling and the lights flickered, knocking out the store’s computerized cash registers.

“Our cash registers are down so our doors are closed,” said Cartright in a phone interview.

Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency in the state, saying eight counties have reported damages and some injuries.

At least three tornadoes were reported in Texas, though only one building was damaged, according to the National Weather Service. Winds toppled a tree onto a pickup truck in the Houston area, killing the driver, and a 53-year-old north Louisiana man was killed when a tree fell on his house. Icy roads already were blamed for a 21-vehicle pileup in Oklahoma, and the Highway Patrol there says a 28-year-old woman was killed in a crash on a snowy U.S. highway near Fairview.

In Louisiana, quarter-sized hail was reported early Tuesday in the western part of the state and a WDSU viewer sent a photo to the TV station of what appeared to be a waterspout around the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in New Orleans. There were no reports of crashes or damage.

Trees fell on a few houses in central Louisiana’s Rapides Parish, but there were no injuries reported, said sheriff’s Lt. Tommy Carnline. Near McNeill, Miss., a likely tornado damaged a dozen homes and sent eight people to the hospital, none with life-threatening injuries, said Pearl River County emergency management agency director Danny Manley.

Christmas lights also were knocked out with more than 100,000 customers without power for at least a time in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama.

Fog blanketed highways, including arteries in the Atlanta area, which was expected to be dealing with the same storm system on Wednesday. In New Mexico, drivers across the eastern plains had to fight through snow, ice and low visibility.

Blizzard

The snowstorm that caused numerous accidents pushed out of Oklahoma late Tuesday, carrying with it blizzard warnings for parts of northeast Arkansas, where 10 inches of snow was forecast. Freezing rain clung to trees and utility lines in Arkansas and winds gusts up to 30 mph whipped them around, causing about 71,000 customers to lose electricity for a time.

Blizzard conditions were possible for parts of Illinois, Indiana and western Kentucky with predictions of 4 to 7 inches of snow.

Some mountainous areas of Arkansas’ Ozark Mountains could get up to 10 inches of snow, which would make travel “very hazardous or impossible” in the northern tier of the state from near whiteout conditions, the weather service said.

The holiday may conjure visions of snow and ice, but twisters this time of year are not unheard of. Ten storm systems in the last 50 years have spawned at least one Christmastime tornado with winds of 113 mph or more in the South, said Chris Vaccaro, a National Weather Service spokesman in Washington, via email.

The most lethal were the storms of Dec. 24-26, 1982, when 29 tornadoes in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi killed three people and injured 32.

Below are earlier reports:

9 p.m. update: A Christmas Day twister outbreak left damage across the Deep South, prompting tornado warnings and watches in the Florida Panhandle and leaving holiday travelers in the nation’s much colder midsection battling sometimes treacherous driving conditions from freezing rain and blizzard conditions.

Conditions were volatile throughout the afternoon and into the night, with tornado warnings in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. The storms were blamed for two deaths, several injuries and left homes from Louisiana to Alabama damaged.

A tornado warning was issued for Bay County just after 9:10 p.m. after radar indicated a developing tornado 13 miles south of Panama City Beach, moving northeast at 45 mph. The storm was moving toward western Panama City, Lynn Haven and Southport. The warning is in effect until 10 p.m.

In Mobile, Ala., a tornado or high winds damaged homes and knocked down power lines and large tree limbs in an area just west of downtown around nightfall, said Nancy Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Mobile County Commission. WALA-TV’s tower camera captured a large funnel cloud headed toward downtown.

“We haven’t verified what it was, but we have an area that we heard has damage to homes,” she said.

The storm system spawned a waterspout that came ashore west of Blue Mountain Beach in South Walton on Tuesday afternoon, but no damage was reported, according to National Weather Service reports.

Another tornado warning was issued for Bay County just after 7 p.m., when radar indicated a possible tornado that moved from the east end of the beach toward Southport and into northern Bay County. The Bay County Sheriff’s Office said they had received no reports of funnel clouds or touchdowns as of 8 p.m.

A tornado watch remained in effect for most Panhandle counties for much of Christmas Day and into early today, with the heaviest storms expected to move through after midnight.

No major delays were reported at Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport on Tuesday, but that was not the case elsewhere. More than 400 flights nationwide were canceled by the evening, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com. More than half were canceled into and out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport that got a few inches of snow.

Numerous tornado warnings were issued for the Mobile, Ala., area, and fire crews were making door-to-door checks in the hardest hit areas of the city Tuesday night. The Mobile Fire-Rescue Department, which was providing storm updates through Twitter, said Murphy High School was damaged and that there was a gas leak at a nearby apartment building.

In Mobile, a large section of the roof on the Trinity Episcopal Church was missing Tuesday evening and the front wall of the parish wall is gone, said Scott Rye, a senior warden at the church in the Midtown section of the city.

On Christmas Eve, the church with about 500 members was crowded for services. “Thank God this didn’t happen last night,” Rye said.

The church finished a $1 million-plus renovation campaign in June 2011, which required the closure of the historic sanctuary for more than a year.

An apparent tornado also caused damage in the west Alabama town of Grove Hill, located about 80 miles north of Mobile.

Mary Cartright said she was working at the Fast Track convenience store in the town on Christmas evening when the wind started howling and the lights flickered, knocking out the store’s computerized cash registers.

“We’ve had some pretty heavy weather,” said Cartright in a phone interview. “Our cash registers are down so our doors are closed.”

Trees fell on a few houses in central Louisiana’s Rapides Parish, but there were no injuries reported and crews were cutting trees out of roadways to get to people in their homes, said sheriff’s Lt. Tommy Carnline. Near McNeill, Miss., a likely tornado damaged a dozen homes and sent eight people to the hospital, none with life-threatening injuries, said Pearl River County emergency management agency director Danny Manley.

At least three tornadoes were reported in Texas, though only one building was damaged, according to the National Weather Service. Christmas lights also were knocked out with more than 100,000 customers without power in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama.

In Louisiana, quarter-sized hail was reported early Tuesday in the western part of the state and a WDSU viewer sent a photo to the TV station of what appeared to be a waterspout around the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in New Orleans. There were no reports of crashes or damage.

Fog blanketed highways, including arteries in the Atlanta area, which was expected to be dealing with the same storm system on Wednesday. In New Mexico, drivers across the eastern plains had to fight through snow, ice and low visibility.

Earlier Tuesday, winds toppled a tree onto a pickup truck in the Houston area, killing the driver. Icy roads already were blamed for a 21-vehicle pileup in Oklahoma, and the Highway Patrol says a 28-year-old woman was killed in a crash on a snowy U.S. highway near Fairview.

Blizzard

The snowstorm that caused numerous accidents pushed out of Oklahoma late Tuesday, carrying with it blizzard warnings for parts of northeast Arkansas, where 10 inches of snow was forecast. Freezing rain clung to trees and utility lines in Arkansas and winds gusts up to 30 mph whipped them around, causing about 71,000 customers to lose electricity.

Blizzard conditions were possible for parts of Illinois, Indiana and western Kentucky with predictions of 4 to 7 inches of snow.

Some mountainous areas of Arkansas’ Ozark Mountains could get up to 10 inches of snow, which would make travel “very hazardous or impossible” in the northern tier of the state from near whiteout conditions, the National Weather Service said.

The holiday may conjure visions of snow and ice, but twisters this time of year are not unheard of. Ten storm systems in the last 50 years have spawned at least one Christmastime tornado with winds of 113 mph or more in the South, said Chris Vaccaro, a National Weather Service spokesman in Washington, via email.

The most lethal were the storms of Dec. 24-26, 1982, when 29 tornadoes in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi killed three people and injured 32.

--

7:45 p.m. update: PANAMA CITY BEACH — Law enforcement said no touchdowns have been reported in Bay County.

A tornado warning was issued just after 7 p.m. after radar indicated a possible tornado on the east end of the beach. The warning has been canceled for Bay County, but a tornado watch remains in effect for all Florida counties west of the Apalachicola River until 10 p.m. CST. That watch is expected to be extended into early Wednesday.

--

7:20 p.m. update: PANAMA CITY BEACH — A tornado warning has been issued for Bay County.

Scanner reports suggest a tornado may have touched down on the east end of the beach, but there was no immediate confirmation.

As of 7:20 p.m., the center of the storm with the possible tornado was located over the bay southwest of Southport, moving toward northern Lynn Haven, Southport and Deer Point Lake. The warning is in effect until 8 p.m.

A tornado watch remains in effect for all Florida counties west of the Apalachicola River until 10 p.m. CST, but that watch is expected to be extended into early Wednesday.

--

5:30 p.m. update: PANAMA CITY — More severe weather was expectd for the Florida Panhandle on Tuesday night and early Wednesday, forecasters said.

A tornado watch was in effect for the entire Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River until 10 p.m. CST, and the watch is expected to be extended into the early morning hours.

The storm already spawned a waterspout Tuesday afternoon, coming ashore near Walton County 393, but no damage was reported.

Farther west, winds toppled a tree onto a pickup truck in the Houston area, killing the driver. Icy roads already were blamed for a 21-vehicle pileup in Oklahoma, where authorities warned would-be travelers to stay home. The National Weather Service tweeted that a tornado was headed toward downtown Mobile, Ala., and WALA posted on its website a photo from its tower cam of what looked like a funnel cloud moving toward the city. Storm spotters later reported a tornado on the ground in a Mobile suburb.

Near McNeill, Miss., in the southwestern part of the state, winds from a storm, possibly a tornado, damaged a dozen homes and injured several people, none seriously, said Pearl River County emergency management agency director Danny Manley.

Trees fell on a few houses in central Louisiana's Rapides Parish but there were no injuries reported and crews were cutting trees out of roadways to get to people in their homes, said sheriff's Lt. Tommy Carnline.

Fog blanketed highways, including arteries in the Atlanta area where motorists slowed as a precaution. In New Mexico, drivers across the eastern plains had to fight through snow, ice and low visibility.

At least three tornadoes were reported in Texas, though only one building was damaged, according to the National Weather Service. Tornado watches were in effect across southern Louisiana and Mississippi.

Nearly 350 flights nationwide were canceled by the evening, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com. More than half were canceled into and out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport that got a few inches of snow.

Christmas lights also were knocked out with more than 70,000 people without power in east Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.

And in Louisiana, quarter-sized hail was reported early Tuesday in the western part of the state and a WDSU viewer sent a photo to the TV station of what appeared to be a waterspout around the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in New Orleans. There were no reports of crashes or damage.

Meanwhile, blizzard conditions were possible for parts of Illinois, Indiana and western Kentucky with predictions of 4 to 7 inches of snow. Much of Oklahoma and Arkansas braced under a winter storm warning of an early mix of rain and sleet forecast to eventually turn to snow. About a dozen counties in Missouri were under a blizzard warning from Tuesday night to noon Wednesday.

Some mountainous areas of Arkansas' Ozark Mountains could get up to 10 inches of snow, which would make travel "very hazardous or impossible" in the northern tier of the state from near whiteout conditions, the National Weather Service said.

The holiday may conjure visions of snow and ice, but twisters this time of year are not unheard of. Ten storm systems in the last 50 years have spawned at least one Christmastime tornado with winds of 113 mph or more in the South, said Chris Vaccaro, a National Weather Service spokesman in Washington, via email.

The most lethal were the storms of Dec. 24-26, 1982, when 29 tornadoes in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi killed three people and injured 32; and those of Dec. 24-25, 1964, when two people were killed and about 30 people injured by 14 tornadoes in seven states.

Storms could bring winds up to 70 mph, heavy rain, more large hail and dangerous lightning in Louisiana and Mississippi, said meteorologist Mike Efferson at the weather service office in Slidell, La.

The storm was moving quickly as it headed into through Louisiana and Mississippi and onto Alabama in the early evening.

In Mississippi, Gov. Phil Bryant urged residents to have a plan for any severe weather.

"It only takes a few minutes, and it will help everyone have a safe Christmas," Bryant said.

--

4:50 p.m. update: MOSSY HEAD — A tornado warning has been issued for northwest Walton County until 5:15 p.m. CST.

The possible tornado was indicated on radar near Mossy Head, moving north at 40 mph.

--

3:15 p.m. update: BLUE MOUNTAIN BEACH — A waterspout came ashore on South Walton near Walton County 393, according to the National Weather Service.

A funnel cloud also was reported with the storm as it passed near U.S. 98 and 331, according to a weather spotter. No damage has been reported.

A tornado watch remains in effect west of the Apalachicola River until 10 p.m. CST.

--

SANTA ROSA BEACH — A tornado warning has been issued for South Walton until 3:15 p.m. CST Tuesday.

As of about 2:35 p.m., the National Weather Service said the possible tornado was 10 miles due south of Santa Rosa Beach, moving northeast at 30 mph. Forecasters later said a funnel cloud was spotted near Blue Mountain Beach, and two waterspouts were spotted offshore as the storm moved over the area.

The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center issued a tornado watch for all Florida Panhandle counties west of the Apalachicola River until 10 p.m. CST Tuesday, as more storms are expected later this afternoon and tonight.

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